Such a Fine Line
by Elen of Endor
Summary: After an unknown crisis, Luke Skywalker finds himself on PreEmpire Naboo. An accident puts him in the care of a young Emperor Palpatine, uncorrupted and untrained. Luke's choice: protect a man he hates from evil or gain peace by destroying his own family


Just a note: I'm trying in my little grey cells to work this out so it could in fact have happened among the books and movies, even though it seems extremely Alternate Universe.

Disclaimer: Don't own it, don't make any money. All the characters are Lucas's.

"There is a thing about time and space which the philosopher Einstein is going to find out. Some people call it destiny."

-The Once and Future King

The man walked down the busy, elegantly paved street, hoping for some clue as to where he was. He drew few, if any intrigued stared and seemed to fit in perfectly with the diverse crowd thronging around him. His expression was calm, with just a hint of irritation in his eyes.

Luke Skywalker was, in fact, as far from calm as he had been in a long while. He had found himself in the lovely but completely unknown city, had no recollection of how he had arrived there, and had resorted to wandering through the different avenues in a vaguely eastern direction.

_How could this possibly have happened? _He demanded of himself. _And I can't remember a single detail of what happened before this. _He combed through his mind desperately. There had been some sort of emergency… No. That was all he could recall.

Luke sighed and wandered in to one of the several parks in the charming metropolis, where he sat down on a bench. At least he didn't look completely out of place. That was probably a good thing. Leia had assured him that black was suitable for most occasions and places.

He turned his thoughts again to figuring out how he had gotten here. It was astounding that he truly didn't know. He knew it wouldn't be wise to ask someone randomly the planet he was on, but he was dying to know. It really didn't look a bit like . . .wherever he had been before. But where _was_ that?

Despite his earlier worries that someone would recognize his presence for ill, Luke closed his eyes and opened his mind, reaching out into the Force. Hopelessly, he sent his consciousness this way and that, but he found no answers and nothing that felt even vaguely familiar. He drew a breath, upset, and stretched even further, with no luck. Furious with himself for failing to find any clues and for being unable to remember what he needed, he made one last attempt.

He was amazed when he realized that he could sense the presence of another person strong in the Force very nearby. Luke had no idea who they were, but the person felt ever so familiar.

He was up in an instant, following the Force signature of the individual in question. Straight through the park and across three streets, down another.

Dodging people and small vehicles, he made it to a fairly open square lined with statues but with few people. Directly on the other side was a large stone building riddled with waterfalls and crowned with several great green domes.

Luke paused to study a few of the tall statues, recognizing none of them. He meandered through the marble likenesses, searching for the nearby Force-sensitive.

He was so focused on his mission that he failed to see the pair of sculptors mending the statue of Apailana II. As he passed under it, a repulsorlift carryall holding the artists' tools bumped heavily into one of the ladders.

"Watch out!" shouted one of the other patrons of the square.

Luke jerked to the side as the tools and ladder cascaded down, but he didn't move quickly enough. Most of the falling debris hit him and a workman who had dashed over to stop the ladder's descent.

A small group of people rushed to clear the two men of the wreckage.

"Is the sculpture damaged?" cried one woman who had picked up an armful of tools.

One of the artists answered her and helped up the diligent workman. "It's fine. Are you all right, Ked?" His friend nodded, shaking himself off a bit.

Luke was pulled to his feet by a young man who had been helping to dig them out. "How about you?" he asked Luke.

"I'm fine," Luke replied. He looked up at the fellow's face and unaccountably felt a flash of fear. He knew those eyes. He touched the Force briefly and was startled; his powerful aura was almost entirely smothered by something. If he hadn't known that this was the man for whom he had been looking, he might have ignored him entirely. It was the right person, however; though he couldn't place either his appearance or his Force presence. And he seemed completely untrained. It was the strangest thing.

"They really ought to fence off repairs like that," Luke's companion was saying as he led him off into another small street. "It's not the first time that's happened."

"You're there a lot?" Luke asked.

"Yes. There's a statue of my father toward the south end of the square. I like to go there and study."

Your father?" He could sense the young man's pride and thought this vein might draw out some information.

"He was the planet's senator for eighteen years before he was killed.

"Where are you from, anyway? You _look_ like one of the Naboo, but your accent's completely something else!"

"Um, I grew up on-" Luke paused. "Naboo? But, it can't be." Leia, when describing one of her childhood trips, had mentioned bitterly how the Empire had changed Naboo from a green utopia to a bare, poor, manufacturing world.

"What?"

"Oh!" Luke knew he must sound crazy, but he gave in and simply told him the truth. "I've just had a really strange morning. I can't remember how I got here. I wasn't even sure where this was until you told me." _How can this be Naboo? I've seen holos of it. And it's barer than Tatooine now. It hasn't looked like this for ages._

He sighed in exasperation with the situation. Looking up, he saw that his new (maybe) acquaintance was looking at him with a quizzical, confused expression.

He had led Luke back past the park he had settled in earlier. Despite the odd behavior, Luke noted, the young man seemed to trust him. And he looked so familiar…"Where are we going?"

"Well, since you have no idea how you're here, I figured you wouldn't mind going by my house. My mother knows almost everyone in the city, so she might be able to help you out."

Luke nodded and they started walking down a street filled with stately manors. "Sorry, but who are you? It seems rude to accept your help with out knowing who you are" _Besides, you seem so familiar._

"Ah! The boy looked sheepish "I'm sorry! It's awful of me not to have introduced myself. Just going on about- Well, I'm Nijos.

"Nijos Palpatine."


End file.
